Torched Strife
by rapono
Summary: When three sparklings are given to the Autobots by a mysterious carrier, they grow up to be great fighters. But as they hunger to know their past, there was a reason their carrier never mentioned their father. Because sometimes, knowing the truth can destroy your life as you know it, and your ideals.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Optimus Prime gathered his team of Autobots together. Ratchet had discovered a small but urgent distress signal, and it had appeared to be neither Autobot nor Decepticon. They has requested that they come as quickly as possible, and to bring medical care. Optimus had decided to send Arcee and Ratchet to help the stranger. He informed Arcee to be ready for a fight, but not to threaten the distressed stranger.

Ratchet put in the coordinates, which were somewhere in Canada, and activated the space bridge. With a medical kit in one hand, Ratchet walked into the bridge, followed by Arcee.

When they went through, they arrived in a pine forest. Heavy breathing could be heard nearby.

Going through a couple of trees, the pair found the distressed stranger. It was a red femme, legs and lower half covered in energon. In her arms, she was holding three sparklings, two of which their optics were barely glowing. She looked up at the pair with wide, fear-filled, bright blue optics. She stood up slowly, then offered the sparklings to them. Lubricant was flowing rapidly from her optics.

"I am glad that you Autobots found me instead of the 'cons." She stepped over to Ratchet, still offering the sparklings to them.

"I am incappable of taking care of my sparklings. They are dying because I don't know what to do. Could you possibly take care of them?"

Ratchet looked down at the poor sparklings. The stronger-looking one cried out. Ratchet sighed.

"If you seriously believe you cannot take care of them yourself, we can take them. But I would recommend come with us."

"I'm sorry, but I can't come with you. But it would make me happy to know that my little sparklings will grow up to help defend this planet from destruction." A small smile crept up the red femme's faceplate.

The femme was about to leave, when she suddenly stopped and turned around.

She pointed at the sickly mech. "This is Stormrust." She then motioned to the weak femme. "This is Skyshard." She eventually pointed towards the final healthy mech. "And this Scorchstrike. I entrust their lives to you."

The mysterious femme took a step back, shed another drop of lubricant, then ran off into the forest. Arcee was about to chase after her, but Ratchet stopped the two-wheeler just in time.

"Arcee, we should let her be. It's already hard enough for a carrier to give away her sparklings. Besides, I don't think she wants to cause any trouble."

Twin cries of pain suprised Ratchet, and he realized that the two weak sparklings were fading fast.

{Optimus,} he commed the Autobot leader, {Open a bridge. We have some dying sparklings here!}


	2. Chapter 1

**Klik: about a second**

**Breem: about a minute**

**Joor: about a hour**

**Cycle: about a day**

**Solar Cycle: about a week**

* * *

Chapter 1

Scorchstrike paced around in anticipation. He was itching to go out of the base, but he had to wait until a new mission was received.

The impaitcent silver and red mech had a familiar looking structure. His wings twitched every now and then, and his tires would spun a little, since he just wanted desperately to go for a drive or flight. He stopped pacing and glared at the orange and white medic with bright blue optics.

"Ratch, what's taking so long?"

"We have yet to find a another energon mine or some decepticon activity. Everyone else who has gone are handing themselves fine."

"But why can't I just go out for a bit?"

"Because we might need you if a problem arises."

"IF." Scorchstrike stomped way angrily, muttering something about how Ratchet was just being a stupid old glitch. Ratchet himself later muttered something to himself about impatient young mechs.

After a few breems, Ratchet had a simple task for Scorchstrike.

Jack was done his shift at KO Burger, and needed to be driven to base. Scorchstrike was disappointed with his task, but was glad that he would be able to use one of his alt modes. So he set out immediately. Jack was somewhat surprised when he saw a fancy sportscar pull up into the KO Burger parking lot. The driver-less vehicle opened up his door for the teen, the door inself going up instead of to the side. Jack hesitantly hoped in.

"So, Scorch, how come you came this time?"

"Everyone else but me and Ratchet were on missions. Besides, I could wait to feel the wind on either of my alt modes."

Jack buckled himself in as Scorchstrike shut his door and drove out of the parking lot. As he drove trough the town, people stared at the sports car.

"Speaking of your alt modes, why choose one that was super fancy looking with spoilers and such?"

"First of all, I need the extra stuff to help support my other alt mode. And second, I want to go fast."

After a moment of silence, Scorchstrike added another point to his list. "Third, I wanted to look fabulous."

Jack chuckled.

"Well, there's no doubt about that!"

Scorchstrike smiled mentally. Just as they exited the town, something didn't feel right to Scorchstrike. He felt like someone's optics were on him.

"Hey Jack."

"Yeah?"

"Do you have the feeling we're being watched."

Jack blinked. He looked around outside, and in seeing no one around them, shrugged Scorchstrike's question off.

"I don't think so."

The sound of transformation suddenly came from above, as eradicons landed around them. Scorchstrike transformed into his robot mode, making sure that Jack was safe within his chassis. He transformed his hand into his signature flamethrower, and pointed it a the 'cons threateningly.

"If any of you move, I'll turn you into deceptitoast!"

One of the eradicons foolishly attempted to shoot him, and a hole was burned through his chassis. The others took a step back in fear.

"Too scared to take me on, eh?"

Scorchstrike double-checked to see if Jack was still ok, then focused back on the 'cons. He heated up his flamethrower in anticipation.

"I'd like to offer a second opinion."

A strong charge jolted him from behind. He fell backwards and passed out of the shock. He saw a crimson mech smirk at him just as his optics offlined.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

{Skyshard, what is your status?}

The femme, who was using a special lazer to to cut out energon, perked her head up and smled a bit.

{Good sir. We found a small area of the stripped mine that the decepticons missed. We're collecting the energon now.}

{I am glad to hear that. Report back if anything happens.}

{Okay Optimus. Will do.}

The comm-link ended.

Skyshard looked at the energon crystal with a feeling of satisfaction. Although she was a seeker, the small femme didn't feel too bothered by being underground. Perhaps it was because she spent the majority of her life in a base that almost appeared to be underground from the inside. She patted off some of the dirt on her pale pink, sky-blue, and white frame, the continued to work on her crystal. Her bright red optics reflected off the crystal.

After about a joor of two, her, Arcee, and Bulkhead had gathered quite a large amount of energon crystal. The three of them gathered the blue crystals up, and proceeded to carry them out.

When she entered the base through the ground bridge witha part of her load, she noticed Ratchet had a troubled look on his face.

"Hey Ratchet, what's wrong?"

"I'll tell you in a moment, just finish bringing in the energon, ok?"

"Ok!"

After the rest of the energon had safley been taken into the base, Ratchet walked up slowly to the femme. She had a bad feeling.

"Skyshard, I sent your brother, Scorchstrike, out to pick up Jack from his job."

She didn't see how anything bad could come from that.

"That was about two joors ago. I haven't heard from him since."

* * *

_Sorry this chapter is so short, just wanted to introduce the second character._


	4. Chapter 3

_Most words I've put into a chapter, EVER. Yays!_

* * *

Chapter 3

Optimus, Bumblebee, and Stormrust were on their way to an energon mine they had recently discovered. The three of them drove swiftly along a dirt path in the middle of a forest. Stormrust was directly behind Optimus, trying to stay ahead of Bumblebee at all times. He wanted to prove that even though he was much younger than 'Bee, has was just as valuable or more than him. He was so determined, he nearly rear-ended Optimus. He carefully back away a bit, making sure the prime didn't notice his close shave.

When they arrived at the mine, the trio transformed, and took the nearby trees as cover. Stormrust wiped some mud off of his somewhat bulky blue and orange frame, and smirked arrogantly at Bumblebee. The scout didn't notice, and continued to wait for their leader's commanders. Stormrust's violet optics glared in frustration, then he too, proceeded to just hide and wait.

The autobot trio peered into the mine. No activity came from it, so Optimus ordered them to continue onward, cautiously. The three 'bots entered the cave, weapons ready. Stormrust saw something move in the corner of his eye, but found only a dumbfounded bat, minding its own business. He facepalmed himself.

The three of them entered a large open area of the cave, littered with energon crystals randomly poking out of the ground and walls. Seeing no obvious threat, they retracted their weapons and let their guard down.

As they began to prepare for mining, a sudden rush of pedfalls and whirl of weapons told them they were not alone.

Vehicons poured out of the multiple entrances, blasters ready to fire. The Autobot trio stood in the middle, waiting for them to fire.

"Well, it looks like the Autobots fell for our simple trap."

The vehicons parted to reveal a very smug-looking Breakdown. Stormrust glared at him and growled.

"No hand the tri..." Breakdown cut himself off as he stared at the growling Stormrust. A look of frustration came to his orange face.

"This isn't him! Atta-" a large electrical bolt struck Breakdown right in the middle of chassis, preventing him from finishing the command. He looked up to see a large smoking cannon where Stormrust's servo previously had been. It was still pointed at the fallen mech.

The 'bots took this moment to start hacking away at the vehicons. Optimus was slicing away with his sword and Bumblebee was landing punches and kicks. Stormrust transformed his other servo into an ax, then joined the energon-splattered fray.

He launched himself at Breakdown, cutting deeply into the 'con's chassis. Breakdown shoved the somewhat smaller mech off of him, then transformed his own servo into a hammer, and counterattacked. The two weapons clashed, and Stormrust was shoved back a bit.

He prepared to launch another, much stronger bolt from his electro cannon. Breakdown barely dodged the strike, leaving the bolt to hit a vehicon, frying its circuits to a crisp. Breakdown looked at the smoking carcass in horror.

Breakdown suddenly recieved a comm-link, and pulled away from the battle. Stormrust followed him, deciding to hear what he would say before off-lining him.

"Knockout, it wasn't him!"

...

"Wait, so you found the triple-changer?"

_Did he mean Scorchstrike?_

"Alright Doc, just gotta pull the troops out of this fight."

Stormrust went in for the strike. Instead, he received a hammer to the face.

"Sorry kid, looks like we found your brother. You're of no need to us anymore." He struck him hard in the chassis, leaving Stormrust in a sudden stasis lock. He metal cracked a bit where he was hit.

Breakdown left him there and continued to gather the troops.

* * *

Ratchet was not as surprised as he could have been when he saw Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Stormrust injured. He had suspected the large mine was a trap, and had warned them so. He rushed towards him, helping the half-online Stormrust onto a berth. Shyshard rushed to her big brother immediately, attempting to repair his wounds.

"How are you brother? Have you heard from Scorchstrike lately? He's been gone for the last three joors."

Stormrust optics jolted fully online. He looked over at his sister, wide opticed.

"The decepticons have him, and it had something to do with his triple changing."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Knockout looked over the stasis-locked autobot mech strapped to his medical berth curiously. When he admired the young mech's faceplate, he swore he looked like someone he knew. Knockout pondered on this for awhile, but just couldn't recall the faceplate. He eventually shrugged it off, and readied his saw.

The young mech was apparently a triple-changer, and one could tell by looking at his robot mode. Knockout had been assigned to studying him and finding out how he triple-changed. Knockout activated his saw, and carefully cut into the silver and red mech's chassis.

As he opened him up, he noticed something odd. The mech's spark chamber looked a bit off to him. Not wanting to risk terminating the project for the sake of curiosity, he grabbed a nearby scanner, and scanned the spark chamber. Looking at the results, Knockout retched.

There was something more than the spark in there. There appeared to be a human body curled up inside, wrapped around the mech's very spark. Knockout was disgusted.

The young mech suddenly jolted online, making Knockout jump away in surprise. His chassis closed up, and he attempted to get up, then suddenly realized he was strapped down.

"Well, look who's finally woken up."

The mech stared at the medic, with a look of worry and disbelief on his faceplate. He struggled against his restraints once again, although it was still futile.

"And what would your designation be, Autobot?"

Silence.

"Scorchstrike. Why am I here?

" "Ah yes. You see, Scorchstrike, Lord Megatron needs to know about how you triple-change."

"And why would you need that information?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Military purposes."

Scorchstrike didn't respond. Instead, he glared harshly at the medic before him.

"So, the silent treatment, huh? Don't worry, I'll make you squeal out all of your secrets." Knockout revved up his saw. "Like why is there a human body inside your spark chamber?"

"What!?"

"Apparently, there appears to be a human body residing inside your spark chamber. I knew you Autobots absolutely love humans, but putting the organics inside you with your spark is just disgusting! Eugh!"

Scorchstrike looked up at the decepticon medic, with a disturbed and confused look on his face."

"So you don't know how it happened either, hmm? Why don't we just open it up to find out!"

"I-i-i'd prefer not, but th-thanks for the suggestion!" Scorchstrike stuttered in a panic.

Knockout sighed in slight disappointment, but continued to re-open up the young mech's chassis. Scorchstrike tried hard to close it up again, but Knockout stopped him this time. He placed his saw right beside his transformation-cog, and grinned maniacally. Scorchstrike felt a small shudder within him.

"Now let's see what's so special about you."

Jack Darby held his breath.

* * *

_P.S. - in case you're confused, the h__uman body within Scorchy isn't Jack, who is safe elsewhere in Scorchy's chassis. But it is important to Scorchy and his sibling's past._


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Knockout revved up his saw in anticipation, smiling wickedly.

"Now let's see what makes you so special!"

Scorchstrike braced himself, as the decepticon medic lowered his saw towards his t-cog. He whimpered, fearing that he would never be able to transform again.

Just as the saw was about to start splitting wires, Knockout stopped. The young autobot looked up at him. The medic appeared to be receiving a comm-link.

"What is it now Starscream?" By the tone of Knockout's voice, he was very annoyed. The medic rolled his optics.

"Look Starscream, I'm trying to open up an autobot prisoner for Lord Megatron!"

...

"All right, fine. I'll be there in a moment, _Commander_."

As the comm ended, Knockout sighed, then looked over to Scorchstrike.

"Now stay here, like a good little autobot."

Knockout transformed his saw back into his servo, then strutted away quickly. The medical bay's doors closed behind the decepticon medic, leaving the captured autobot in silence.

Scorchstrike let out let out a large exhaust of relief. He tried to get up from the berth, but ended up with no success.

"All right Jack, it's safe for now."

With a few rustles and creaks, the teenage boy crawled out from Scorchstrike's chassis. He looked up at the young autobot, with a worried look on his face.

"Now what, Scorch?"

"Well, if you can somehow get me off this berth, I can bust us out of here."

Scorchstrike pondered for a moment, then looked at his surroundings.

"Maybe you can use that lazer over there."

Jack looked over at the lazer, which was on a nearby table. Running for it, he jumped onto the table, then scrambled over the the lazer. It was big for a human, but just small and light enough for Jack to carry it. He hopped back onto the berth.

He ran over to one of Scorchstrike's servos, then carefully aimed the lazer. Jack turned the lazer on, and it instantly broke the restraint. He quickly shut it off, before he accidentally began to start cutting off Scorchstrike's digits. The young mech took the tool from Jack, then quickly zapped the remaining restraints.

Carefully taking the human teen in his servo, Scorchstrike got up and looked around the medical bay. He put his head to its door, listening for activity. Hearing nothing, he placed Jack back inside his chassis, then opened the doors and exited the bay. He checked the halls both ways, before going the direction he thought would lead to an exit.

Eventually, the young mech got lost. The nemesis was bigger than he thought. As he swiftly turned 'round another corner, he suddenly ran into something. Scorchstrike stumbled to the floor. He looked up at the offending obstruction, then froze in fear.

"And what are you doing up and about, Autobot?"

The leader of the decepticons towered before him. Scorchstrike scrambled backwards, then stumbled to his pedes.

"Apparently, your medic was busy with Stiletto-heeled Commander." he said mockingly to the large decepticon lord.

Megatron growled angrily, then attempted to grab the cocky autobot. Scorchstrike swiftly dodged, and took a step back. He readied his flamethrowers, then pointed them at Megatron's faceplate.

"Eat my flames Megs!"

He blasted the decepticon lord with a double torrent of fire. Not waiting to see his results, he jumped into the air and transformed into a fiery-red-lined silver fighter jet, and sped down the halls.

Eventually, he found the exit. As he flew for his freedom, he heard the decepticon lord's shouts of rage. He knew he was out-gunned, but he assured himself he was faster than the larger mech. He blasted his thrusters at full-capacity, then headed for the earth below.

"You okay Jack?"

"A bit nervous and shaken, but otherwise fine."

"Great! Just be prepared, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"


	7. Chapter 6

_I feel like this story's been launched into action too early. Oh well. It is somewhat unscripted._

_PS - this story happens in the same universe as **Curing the Dead** only this starts much earlier and before CtD's events happened._

* * *

Chapter 6

"What are we going to do!?" the pale pink seeker almost screeched the words. Stormrust leaned back on the berth, and looked to the ground.

"I can't think of anything we can do to help him, Skyshard."

"We can hope for the best though! I think he'll make it out alive! At least he should, shouldn't he?"

"Let's hope so."

As Ratchet was tending to Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, he overheard the siblings' conversation. He rushed over to them, with Optimus following the medic slowly. A panicked look was all over the docbot's face.

"Did you say Scorchstrike was _kidnapped_?"

The siblings nodded nervously.

"Then this is worse than we all thought," Ratchet ran over to the cybertronian-styled computer, and immediately began searching for Scorchstrike's life signal.

"He has Jack with him."

* * *

"Drat!"

"What is it Scorchstrike?" Jack gripped his seat tightly as Scorchstrike did another aerial maneuver.

"They disabled my comm-link!"

"You mean you can't contact the base?"

"Nope! And I have no idea where the frag we are!" The triple-changer's voice was dripping with sarcasm and hysteria.

Jack looked behind them. "And unfortunately, Megatron is still on our trail."

"Why won't that slagging bucket-head leave us alone!" Scorchstrike dived beneath the clouds, revealing a large dark pine forest below.

"Hopefully, this forest means that we're somewhere somewhat near the base," he swerved tot the side, avoiding Megatron's blast. "At least we better be in the right continent!"

Scorchstrike really hoped he was right. He knew he was definitely fast enough to stay ahead of the mighty decepticon leader, but he did not yet have the endurance to stay at such a speed for a prolonged amount of time. He knew if he didn't get to safety soon, he would crash from overheating and exhaustion, making him easy prey for Megatron. Plus, he had Jack in tow. He didn't want to be responsible for his demise.

Scorchstrike barely dodged Megatron's next shot, as he had been distraced scanning the ground below. He tried his comm-link once again, but only fizzle came thorugh. He felt his engines beginning to overheat.

Reluctantly, Scorchstrike prepared for a landing, not wanting to risk causing any severe internal damage. But as he began lowering himself, Megatron got closer. Jack looked behind them, only too see the cybertronian jet up close and personal, and preparing another blast.

Just as Megatron was about to fire, a violent bolt of lightning struck the decepticon lord. The flash was blinding and the thunder was deafening, forcing Jack to cover his eyes and ears, and Scorchstrike to almost swerve out of control. The energy surge from the bolt caused the dark lord's systems to malfunction, making Megatron start heading for a crash landing.

Scorchstrike took this opportunity, and quickly landed in a nearby clearing. He transformed into his robot mode, then checked to see if Jack was okay. Seeing as the teenage male was fine, he began to vent in an attempt to cool down his systems.

It did not take long for Megatron to recover though. Soon, the dark lord began charging through the evergreen forest, smashing through trees at full-speed towards the young mech.

Scorchstrike would've fully-charged his flamethrowers and scorched the 'con until his circuits were fried, but he didn't want to risk making his already overheated systems worse. Instead, he readied his missiles, and fired them at the approaching and enraged decepticon.

Unfortunately, the missiles seemed to have no effect on the angry warlord, so he turned heel and ran for it. As he dashed through the clearing, he glanced behind him, to see Megatron directly behind him. He let out a screech of terror.

But just as the decepticon warlord was upon him, blast from behind struck the warlord directly in his neck cables. Megatron stumbled, allowing Scorchstrike to escape his reach. Megatron roared in frustation, then faced the direction of the sharp-shooter.

As another well-aimed blast struck Megatron in the chassis, Scorchstrike's savior emerged from the evergreen shadows. Scorchstrike himself, who had hidden behind a large boulder, looked on in curiosity.

A deep-crimson femme stepped into the sunlight, wielding a sniper blaster. Her violet-rimmed blue optics glared at the decepticon lord, as she put away her blaster. A mouthplate covered her glossa, making it somewhat difficult to read her emotions. Spikes ran down her helm and back, as well as on her arms and legs. But the feature that stood out the most was a reptilian-like tail protruding from her rear, which flicked from side-to-side in anticipation.

Overall, she looked quite tough and menacing.

The mysterious stranger raised her arm, and pressed two sharp digits to the side of her helm. She said something into her comm, which was too quiet for the two mechs to hear.

* * *

The computer beeped, startling Ratchet, and informed him it had detected a signal. It was a comm-link from an unknown caller. Hoping it had something to do with Scorchstrike, Ratchet accepted it immediately.

"Allos," a female voice with a European accent greeted the autobot medic. "I believe I've found your missing mech."

Ratchet's spark skipped a beat, and the remaining autobots looked at the computer, all full of shock and with wide optics. Ratchet began tracing the signal immediately.

"Let's hope this isn't a trap."

* * *

_Should I change this fanfic's title? I feel like I should since the plot has changed from when I originally started this fanfic._


End file.
